Latin America Leads in the Expansion of Mobile Telephony

October 22, 2013

The growth of mobile phones in the region is significantly
higher than that of Europe. Costa Rica and Brazil are the countries
with the greatest indices of mobile phone penetration in the
telecommunications market.

The report Infraestructura en el desarrollo de América
Latina(Infrastructure in the Development of Latin America)
concludes that the development of mobile telephony in Latin
America stands out because of its sustained growth
and expansion perspectives.The median growth of these
technologies in 18 countries of the continent by far
exceeds that of Europe, Asia, and Africa.

When comparing the growth and penetration rates of mobile
telephony in the market, it may be observed that only the Dominican
Republic maintained a stable penetration rate of around 90 percent.
The other countries in the region showed an compound annual
growth rate that goes from 2 percent in Venezuela to 23
percent in Costa Rica.

Costa Rica was the country with the greatest
growth level due to the entry of new players into a
market with a repressed supply. Following is Brazil, with a CAGR
(Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 17 percent: mobile phone users
increased to 80 million, ranking this country as the one with the
second largest growth rate.

Half of the countries in the continent also exceeded the barrier
of a higher number of mobile phone users than number of
inhabitants. This increase in the mobile phone penetration
levels makes it necessary to promote the benefits of this
technology, integrating it to the mobile wide band or increasing
the use of applications and services provided by mobile phones to
increase social inclusion.

Another challenge is that there are still segments of population
without access to mobile phones in countries where the penetration
exceeds 100 percent. This is due to multiple phenomena: some middle
and high social class users have more than one mobile phone; many
users have more than one SIM card to take make the most out of the
advantages of the different operators.

The goal to consider is to achieve growth not only in
urban areas, allowing for the integration of the lowest
sectors of the demographic pyramid.